10-year-old Malden, Mo., boy improving after joy ride ends in crash

MALDEN, Mo. -- A 10-year-old Malden boy was initially listed in serious condition in a St. Louis hospital, but is reportedly improving following a trip behind the wheel of a Chevy Cavalier in the early morning hours Friday

The boy eventually crashed into parked vehicles at Lincoln Lacy Motors on Business Highway 25.

According to police, it is believed the boy drove off in the car about an hour earlier. He had no passengers in the vehicle at the time he entered the lot of the car dealership at what police reported was a high rate of speed.

He was airlifted to Children's Hospital in St. Louis.

Police said the child's mother didn't know her son had left their Malden home. Police woke her with the news of the accident.

According to Curt Hillis, general manager at Lincoln Lacy Motors, the boy was estimated to be traveling around 70 mph when he hit a ditch and became airborne, clipping a telephone pole, hitting a utility pole, damaging a fence and coming to rest after crashing into a 2009 truck on display. That truck, Hillis said, struck two other nearby vehicles.

According to reports Saturday morning, the boy sustained a broken collarbone and a concussion in the wreck, but showed considerable improvement late Friday.

The vehicle the boy was driving is a total loss.